USDA Gives $12.5M to Companies That Buy Federal Wood Byproducts
In an equation with fuzzy math, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is giving $12.5 million to companies willing to buy and then re-sell wood byproducts from federal land.
The USDA Forest Service will provided the funds “to facilities that purchase and process byproducts from ecosystem restoration projects in areas at risk of unnaturally severe wildfire or insect or disease infestation” through funding from The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, according to the grant summary.
“These byproducts could include trees and woody biomass harvested through timber sales, thinning, hazardous fuels reduction treatments, or other restoration management activities.”
The goal is to lower the cost of restoration projects that need vegetation removal on federal and tribal lands and invest in surrounding communities. Grant recipients can collect between $50,000 and $1 million.
The numbers don’t appear to add up. The federal government is giving money to companies that buy its wood products to then sell the wood products.
“Funding priority will be to provide financial assistance to an entity seeking to establish, reopen, retrofit, expand, or improve a sawmill or other wood-processing facility that will utilize the byproducts from projects on federal land, tribal forestland, and tribal rangeland that have been identified as at risk for fire, insect, or disease and a high priority for ecological restoration,” the grant description states.
Companies that apply must have facilities close to federal lands and get the raw materials from those lands. Their applications must show how the federal funding will help use the byproducts and how this assistance will help reduce restoration costs.
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